Remembering 9/11

We may not remember what we had for breakfast yesterday, but we all remember where we were when planes crashed into the World Trade Center on September 11th 2001.

Writing about it gives me the chills because what happened was unthinkable and unbelievable. And yet it was real.

It was 8:46AM on a beautiful Tuesday morning, and I was preparing to go downtown to Business School for what was the 3rd week of my MBA. The babysitter had arrived to stay with my 6 month-old. Everything seemed perfect in New York City. Until a few terrorists shattered the peace and forever changed the landscape and psyche of New Yorkers and the American People.

So many innocent lives were lost, mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers, daughters and sons. So many of our beloved firefighters -heroes- perished in the tragedy.

For weeks after the attack, the walls of downtown, where I was commuting to every day for school, were plastered with images of faces; people who had disappeared and who would never return. We all looked at the faces with so much hope and disillusion at the same time, until these posters were eventually taken down.

For days we saw the same images on TV: One plane crashing into the north tower and a few minutes later a second plane crashing into the south tower. People jumping to their death. We heard goodbye messages to loved ones from the doomed United Airlines plane that crashed in Pennsylvania after its passengers tried to overcome the hijackers.

Suddenly our world was a changed one.

We will never forget 9/11 and its fallen heroes. Our heart goes out to those who have lost loved ones on that day. In their honor, let’s hug our loved ones a bit tighter on this anniversary.